Summer Fun

Here are some of Madeeha's pics from this past summer. I didn't have a blog when summer started, so I'm way behind on her journal. We stayed busy visiting the Orchard Town Center a lot and we also went to Pearl St. in Boulder quite often and watched Miss M dance with the performers. I couldn't include everything, so I just chose some of my favorite pics of her from the last few months.


This is one of my favorite pictures.

This is our backyard. She constantly played in the dirty fountain water. She would throw handfuls of rocks in there and we'd have to clean up after her. Her friends also loved the fountain and they were more than happy to help her dump dirt and rocks in the water.

...always has to have what mommy has.

Just another day on Pearl St. in Boulder. Everyone in the crowd gathered to watch Madeeha dance. She always draws a crowd when we go there.

These gypsies were very nice to her and they let her join the show.

I just love this picture. Abby wanted to dress up in her chicken suit. Then Heather helped Madeeha get dressed. The look on her face is hilarious. Her face looks like she was forced into the suit and she doesn't know what to do next. She looks so sweet and innocent. So cute!

She always has to love on Logan. Here they are at the play area in the Cherry Creek Mall in Denver.

Madeeha loves it when we let her at the wheel. Daddy went inside Taco Bell while we waited. Little Miss No Patience didn't want to stay in her seat. She had to jump around and push every button in the car.

Here she is dancing with all the adults at one of the Orchard friday evening concerts.

Ha Ha! Daddy loves to pick on her. He's showing off her 'teets'.

Strawberry cream cheese...it's the only way to get her to eat a bagel.

Coloring at the Rock Bottom Brewery when Mr. Buchanan and Joe were in town.

She always 'helps' mommy with the laundry.

She only wears sunglasses when she wants to play. She never wears them when she needs them.

So sweet

Happy to be with her buddies, Logan and Kira, at Tara's house

We walked to the neighborhood lake many times this summer. She's finally decided that being in the stroller isn't that bad. She did really good this summer during our walks.

Just spending another day trying to entertain the boss.

My little cutie at the Rock Bottom Brewery again. Daddy was out of town so we went out with Penny.

More goofiness with Daddy.

Madeeha loves to swing, especially if her daddy is in charge. This is the park behind the elementary school in our neighborhood.

Caught a quick picture before she could snatch her sunglasses off.

Always loving on Logan

Time to play in the water

She watches tv just like a man. All she needs is the remote.

She loves to be naked. I caught her looking naughty in the backyard without any pants on.

Another evening at the Orchard

She discovered the joy of stickers this summer.

Madeeha's very first car!

Ugh...yet another picture of me. Doesn't mommy get tired of doing this?

My princess loves to wear mommy's and daddy's shoes.

Another ones of my favorites. Her hair is blowing around and it looks like little devil horns to go with that naughty little face.

We were at the Ranch playground. Madeeha and Ethan hopped up on the bench, away from the other kids, and had a little chat.

So cute!

Modeling some new fall clothes. We had a couple of cold snaps this summer.

So naughty! Her fingers are ready to snatch something up and that naughty little face says it's gonna be a mess!

Okay, back to modeling.

I had to include a picture of my tomboy in a pretty dress.

She really surprised me with this. She never lets me walk away, but I pushed the swing and she didn't mind that I walked off. Then I noticed the swing had stopped moving and she just patiently waited until I walked back over and pushed her again. She didn't complain at all...really surprising. Here she is just hanging around and waiting for more entertainment.

She cooperated about 8 times for the same pose. Daddy was so proud!

Hula baby at Tara's surprise birthday party.

More lovin' for Logan

A rare opportunity to catch Madeeha with clips in her hair. She actually wore those for about 15 minutes before ripping them out.

Labor Day: Traci Buchanan's visit and Camping in Leadville

We started off our holiday with Traci Buchanan flying into town with her boyfriend, 'Dr.' Lee Carney. They arrived on August 27, 2008. During those 4 days we took them to Boulder a couple of times, Estes Park and then camping in Leadville. This was the first time we'd seen Traci in 4 years and the first time that we had ever met Lee. Her visit was long overdue. This was also the first time that Traci had ever met Madeeha.

Here she is on the phone trying to finish up some last minute travel details.

This is one of our favorite spots...Lost Overlook Gulch. We take everyone here. It's a great place. Who knew that Traci was afraid of falling though? She wouldn't climb the rock and I had to hold her hand to take pictures because she was terrified.

There's Lee and Traci together. They look cute.

If someone doesn't keep a tight grip on Madeeha she will definitely try to jump off of the cliff.

We ventured off so that I could go potty in the woods. That's Traci behind the bright flash taking our picture as we're heading back up the trail.

Fire in the sky. Colorado sunsets are always amazing!

After viewing Boulder from the gulch, we drove down the mountain back to Boulder. We strolled the Pearl St. outdoor mall. Traci visited some shops and we checked out some performers. Then we all had dinner at Old Chicago Pizza.

One of the many performers that you will find on Pearl St on any given day. This was pretty neat. He really does look like he is being wind blown. He didn't move, but only occasionally spoke as if he were talking on his cell phone.

Traci and Lee went into the Paper Doll shop and bought Madeeha this little fairy hat and butterfly skirt. I'm not sure who loved it more, Traci or Madeeha. It's really cute.

Here we are at Old Chicago Pizza. Traci is proudly displaying the gift that she and Lee gave to Madeeha.

Hi Imran

Traci and Madeeha playing peekaboo while we waited for our pizza.

I scheduled a potluck and playdate at my house before I knew that Traci would be coming to visit us. She and Lee looked on for a while before escaping to Starbucks.

This is me and my little sweetheart, Avery. I have to hold her and love on her when I can. She's so cute.

This is Boulder Falls on Canyon Boulevard. I love this place.

We drove to Estes Park and had dinner and then walked around a bit. Daddy helped Madeeha walk the wall while Traci checked out one of the shops.

We're heading back to the car so that we can drive a little further through Rocky Mountain National Park. Unfortunately, a wildfire was raging about 6 hrs away. Unbelievable as it was, a smoky haze covered the entire area, even all over Denver. It's amazing the affect that wildfires have on the surrounding environment. It was so hazy that we couldn't even see huge mountains that were right in front of us.

We were invited by Celeste and Mike to go camping in Leadville, CO along with several of their friends. We arrived on Friday August 29, 2008 in the evening. It's a beautiful drive to this area. The weather was cool and the skies were beautiful. Traci and Lee eventually met up with us, but they first had to visit a sporting store that was having a sale.

We were just getting acquainted with the campsite. Madeeha immediately grabbed some toys and started playing in the dirt. She has never been so happy to be dirty. She loved it. She didn't bathe for 2 days and loved every minute of it. We need to take her camping again. She loves the outdoors and she had too much fun. The boy in the picture is Alec, Celeste's and Mike's son. Madeeha couldn't figure out that his name was Alec, so she called him Alex. It's hard for her because we know so many kids with the same or similar names.

Daddy is setting up our huge tent.

Madeeha is checking everything out and seeing what all she can get in to.

One of Madeeha's favorite activities was to swing in the hammock. She called it the 'slide'. A couple of pictures above she is sitting with Ryan, who enjoyed helping Miss M swing.
Later, we had to put Miss M in the car and let her pretend to drive. She was acting crazy and needed a distraction. She turned on the blinkers and lights and pretended to drive like a pro.


Lee and Traci looking cute together, again.



All the kiddies put glow sticks on so that we could see them at night if they ran off. Miss M just wanted to eat it, so we put it on her ankle. It's a great idea to have these things while in the woods at night.

There's the hostess, Celeste, who doesn't like it when I take her picture. She made all homemade meals and took good care of us. For once I wasn't in charge of everything.

Madeeha kept putting her mouth on the beer can. She did this about 15 times, but neither Traci nor myself could catch it on camera. Miss M thought this was really funny.

Sweet little kisses for Aunt Traci.

Night time: getting ready for bed


It's Saturday and Madeeha is still enjoying the hammock. She's bundled in her jacket, which she calls the 'macket'.

This is Turquoise Lake. The shore was very rocky. We didn't do any fishing, but some of our friends did. They didn't catch anything, but it was still a nice day. The lake is bigger than it looks. It curves to the right and wraps around the mountain for quite a distance.

To the left is the tallest mountain in Colorado, Mount Elbert.

Daddy and daughter sitting down, relaxing and reminiscing about the good old days.

Queen of Adventure

Saturday night: lots of sleepy people in the background who almost went blind from the camera flash.

It's Sunday. Our last day camping. We dressed Miss M in a thick suit the night before because it was very cold at night. She looked so cute and chunky. She's making daddy swing her in the hammock again.

Alec and Madeeha were dancing on top of his bear trap.

Madeeha wanted to help Celeste wash the dishes and she did so by dumping hand fulls of dirt into the dishwater.



Alec wanted me to help him find the ghost running around the portable shower. Luckily I had already used the shower before his little ghost arrived.

Alec didn't want us to go home. He's a very sweet little boy. He played with Madeeha very well. I didn't get the picture, but he and Madeeha were hugging for about 10 minutes.

Imran was trying to put away the last part of the tent. We used a shower curtain as a tarp. Madeeha made Daddy and Alec drag her around the camp.

Now she's chasing her daddy around and screaming because she isn't done riding the tarp yet.

Madeeha was very grumpy at this point. She was getting sleepy, but we were trying to keep her awake until we put her in the car seat. She thought that Daddy's Gatorade was her juice, and she insisted that she have some.



These are the trees at the campsite.

Just before we left the campground, we rode around the lake area. It was raining, so we just rolled down the window and snapped this picture. After that, we headed home and it rained the whole way.